News & Issues

Clark calls on NDs to show leadership on DRP in wake of hard-hitting Auditor General’s Report

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Meagan Parisian

CALGARY - February 10, 2016 - Alberta Party Opposition Leader Greg Clark has little hope that the ND government will fully implement the recommendations found within the recently released Auditor General’s report.

“It may be a new government but it seems nothing has changed behind the scenes,” said Clark. “This is especially true with the troubling findings about the Disaster Recovery Program. The same people who made a mess of DRP have been asked to fix it.

“Why should we expect anything to be different next time?”

Clark said that two and a half years after the flood hundreds of people are still struggling to close their DRP files.

“This report shows that the unfortunate people who have to access DRP after the next disaster will have exactly the same problems,” said Clark. “There’s a big risk Alberta will miss out on hundreds of millions in Federal funding because the program is so badly administered.

“Big changes are needed behind the scenes, and it’s up to the NDP to make those changes.”

The NDP government have had many sources of information on how best to fix DRP, including reports from the outside consultants, the Auditor General and DRP recipients, but have yet to implement meaningful changes.

“The High River DRP Advocacy Committee has made 59 recommendations for how DRP can be improved in the future. Their report at www.fixalbertadrp.com shares the end-user perspective to the problems in DRP, and gives the government a roadmap for fixing the system.”

This Auditor General’s report is further proof of the problems that persist in the system. Albertans deserve to see real evidence the NDP are willing and able to fix DRP.